Sunrises
by StEpPiNg StOnEs
Summary: better than sounds. I can't write summs. Ah, the life of a teenage ninja. Glamorous? Not really. But you have to do it if you want respect, to get to the top. Well, that's even more difficult working on team fifteen. You'll find out why on your own.mostOC
1. Chapter 1

**a/n okay! so this is yet ANOTHER story by me, I know. oh, and be expecting one more shortly. This one is about the three kids introduced in the fourteenth chapter of Butterfly Prophecy, if any of you read that story. yeah, you should. xD anyway, there is one part in this that is the sensei's POV, but that won't happen often, seeing as she gets her own story. yeah, I'm sure that how they're all connected is confusing but, yeah. I like doing that xD especially since there are characters I like, so it's fun writing their interactions and then having someone else's thoughts on a scene.**

**also, this is my first Third Person POV Naruto story. heh heh. yeah...I'll probably write the sensei's this way as well...**

**_I can't write summaries.

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**Sunrises**  
Chapter One--Team 15

---

A young boy of just thirteen sat perched on the top of an iron fence. Using a pair of binoculars, he stared through a small window into a classroom of Konoha's Ninja Academy. He had been sitting still like that for so long that his legs were numb to the pain and he had learned to ignore the ends of the fence digging into the arches of his feet, despite the hard bottoms of his shoes.

He didn't understand what he was doing, but his teammates had asked him to, saying that it was the perfect job for him. He couldn't very well disagree--or agree either--since he had no clue what he was doing.

A blonde girl, bored, turned towards the window to stare out. The thirteen-year-old boy noticed the alarmed expression on the girl's face upon spotting him. He lowered the binoculars, grinned, waved, and then jumped off the fence. He landed perfectly on the roof of the Academy and began to run, just as he had been instructed to do.

_'Hato. If someone catches you, leave. Got that?'_

Those had been the exact words of his sensei, Mutsuko. She had sounded so serious when she had first said them that Hato, the boy, didn't dare disobey. Even after he realized that there was nothing dangerous about what he was doing, he still listened to Mutsuko-sensei.

"Every day, it's the same thing," he mumbled, hopping onto yet another rooftop. "Go spy on the Academy students and then report back to Sensei. Of course the other two can't do it. They get to go off and do...whatever else it is. Probably exciting though. All _I_ get to do is spy on the same old boring people." Hato came to an abrupt stop; instinctively, his hand flew up to his head, pressing his hat down on his head. It was surprising how it stayed in place even through the rushing winds Hato caused as he ran.

"Darn it. Which way?" Hato muttered to himself; he quickly scanned the area before hopping off the roof and landing gracefully on the ground below. He was standing in an alley--a very familiar alley. He was close to where he needed to be. Turning on his heels, he took off again, the binoculars banging against his chest from where they were hung around his neck.

---

"...Seiko? What are you doing?"

The head of a girl popped out from amidst the pile of hamsters, all of which were two to three feet long. She grinned sheepishly at the boy who stood before her, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrow raised.

"Konichiwa Sakai!" she exclaimed. Somehow she managed to pull an arm away from all the hamsters and she brushed aside the hair that was constantly falling over her dull blue eye.

"No seriously, _what_ are you doing?" The boy ordained as Sakai asked, his voice low. His eyes quickly darted about, taking in the heap of squirming hamsters--all of which were chattering noisily--that had swallowed the girl.

"**Well**," she began slowly. "I was practicing some techniques. I was trying to master the art of summoning and all, and well..._this_ happened."

The corners of the boys mouth were twitching as he suppressed the laugh that bubbling inside his throat, desperately hoping to get out. "Well, that's..._ interesting_."

Seiko rolled her eyes. "Go ahead, laugh. I don't mind," she said bitterly. She grunted as she released her other arm from the pile of hamsters. Her two hands moved quickly, forming hand seals. Finally, she bit her thumb hard, so that it broke the skin. Quickly, she slammed her hand down on the ground. In an instant, all of the hamsters were gone, and she fell to the hard forest floor with a '_thud_'. Despite this, she allowed a sigh of relief to pass her lips.

Sakai watched all of this with amusement. Before he offered the golden-haired girl a hand, however, he brushed his rusty bangs out of his face, revealing eyes the exact same color as Seiko's, and a Konoha forehead protector.

"Come on, get up," Sakai said, dull blue eyes flickering upwards, staring past the canopy of leaves and stared at the sky. "We need to get going."

Seiko grunted as she took the hand Sakai offered her. Once she was standing again, she placed her hands on her hips and also looked upwards.

"Well, let's get going then, hm?" She looked back down to earth, staring the boy opposite her straight in the eye. "We don't want them to wait too long, do we?"

Sakai gave a sigh, pushing hair away from his face again. "I think Hato will do that for us," he said dully; Seiko grinned in agreement, and then the two ran off.

---

A young woman of barely 24 sat alone at a ramen stand. Her cold hands warmed themselves as she tightly grasped at the mug of once piping hot tea. It was quite cold by now, but that didn't matter to her. She hadn't been planning on drinking it, anyway. The stand she sat at wasn't particularly good at making tea.

"I'm surprised Hato isn't back yet. Usually he gets caught much faster than this," she whispered to herself, eyes staring at the cold brown liquid in the mug that was oddly still so warm. She lifted a single finger and dipped it into the tea; she shuddered after a drop fell onto her tongue, so cold and so bitter. "I suppose the class had a more interesting lesson today than usual."

The woman continued staring down at the tea she had ordered how ever many hours ago. She had barely a moved a muscle since she had stepped through the curtain of beaded strings and ordered her tea.

"She isn't dead, is she?" A boy probably the same age as her three pupils asked the owner of the little stand.

"I don't think so," the owner said unsurely, and then paused. The woman saw him lean down to look at her face and then straighten himself. "No, no she's perfectly alright. Now leave the woman alone, son."

The smallest trace of a smile stole over the young woman's face, and she barely stifled a chuckle. Dead? Oh, no. She just didn't like fidgeting. It was oddly uncomfortable.

"You know, maybe Hato's just getting better at hiding," she told herself quietly. "Yes, I suppose it's a possibility, however unlikely."

She lifted her head and stared at the clock on the wall, ticking away. Her neck was stiff from looking down at the counter for such a long time, but she paid no heed.

Three hours. It had been three hours since Hato had set off to spy on that Academy class. Three hours since she had come to the stand, ordered her tea, and sat there, motionless.

Three hours was a long time.

"Yes, I'm sure he's getting better. After all, Iruka-sensei barely knows how to teach a lesson that will keep people from looking out the window for three hours," the woman told herself and looked back down at her tea.

"Mutsuko-sensei!"

A familiar voice exclaimed. The woman ordained Mutsuko heaved a sigh. It seemed Hato felt like proving her wrong.

"Hai, Hato?" she asked, looking over her shoulder. There stood her student, looking rather disheveled. Probably from the wind. Hato was a very fast runner, Mutsuko had learned on their first meeting. That was when he even **bothered** to move.

"I'm so tired of spying on the _same old_ class every day! They do nothing but sit there and listen to that class! And I don't even know **why** I'm doing it!"

"Because I told you to, that's why," Mutsuko said. Her voice was barely above a whisper, as usual. Her bored hazel eyes made contact with the young boy's angry, dark gray ones.

"Yeah, I _get_ that. But _why_ did you tell me to?!"

Mutsuko lifted herself off of the stool, put some money on the counter, and walked over to Hato, draping her arm over his thin shoulders.

"**That**," she began slowly, pushing through the curtain of beads and stepping out onto the street with her pupil, "I'll tell you some other time. But for now, I request you continue doing it."

Mutsuko looked up and down the dirt road of Konoha, eyes narrowing as she tried to spot two people in the midst of all the others.

"Come along. Let's go find Seiko and Sakai."

"Oh! About that! Mutsuko-sensei, what are those two doing while you have me spy on that class?"

Mutsuko looked down at him. He was up to her shoulder--Actually, even taller than that--and eleven years younger.

"They train," the young woman answered simply.

Hato was enraged. "That's _all_?! You don't have them do some **dumb** task for you?!"

Mutsuko shrugged, grabbing his forearm and tugging him after her.

_Hato, Hato, Hato. You'll learn soon enough why I'm having **you** do this 'dumb' task for me_.

---

"She left?!" Seiko angrily exclaimed after pushing through the beads that served as a sort of entrance for the small ramen stand.

"Apparently," Sakai answered.

"But she said to meet her here!"

Sakai shrugged. "Mutsuko-sensei changes her mind a lot," he stated simply. He turned on his heels to step back onto the dirt road of Konoha.

"Well...well she makes it so _difficult_ for us to get to her! That's it! Next time she tells us to wait for her somewhere, I say we leave before she shows and go somewhere else!" Seiko, in an outrage, shouted. There was a hint of triumph in her voice, like it was the most wonderful plan ever.

Sakai rolled his eyes. "Don't be spiteful," he grumbled. His eyes were downcast as he inspected the soft dirt. There were half-footprints, like just the balls of the feet belonging to whoever had been going by had hit the ground. In fact, there was another set of these next to the first.

Sakai recognized the running style. He knew no ninjas other than two who did that as they ran. Those two were none other than his sensei and his other teammate.

"Hato's with her," Sakai said, straightening himself and stretching his back. "And they went this way."

"Ah, so Hato's been caught again, eh?" Seiko said, grinning a little. How typical of Hato. He had no idea how to hide, even when it was _essential_ not to be seen. Which it wasn't with what he was doing.

"Yes. It's either that or he just got tired of sitting there. I wouldn't put either past him."

Seiko took a step forward so that she stood directly beside the rusty-haired boy.

"Let's go," she exclaimed. And then, side by side, the two ran off, glancing down every so often to make sure they were still going the right way. Somehow, they managed to catch glimpses of the footprints at the speed they were going.

---

Hato stopped running abruptly and just stood there, still. His hand was on top of his head, as it usually was when he stopped after a speedy run. He needed to make sure his hat was still securely on his head.

It took Mutsuko only seconds to realize that her pupil was no longer running with her. She too stopped, and a cloud of dirt flew up around her. She squeezed her eyes shut so that the tiny grains wouldn't get in her eyes, and closed her mouth tight so that it couldn't get in her lungs.

"Hato! Why did you stop?!" she asked after getting out of the cloud of dust and stood before him. She brushed the dirt that had settled on her clothes right off.

"Listen," Hato instructed.

The older of the two did as the young boy commanded. Both of them blocked out all sounds but for the one they were listening for so intently. When they did this, the sound of footsteps, pounding down on the hard earth and coming ever closer, was indeed very loud. There was also something else. The sounds of a voice, distant and somewhat muted. It was a female, screaming many things in an angry way.

"Seiko. Definitely Seiko," Mutsuko said quietly.

"Yup. And I'd say that she's..." Hato paused, straining his ears to hear more. "I'd say that she's angry that you weren't where you said you'd be."

Mutsuko smiled guiltily. "Yes, that sounds about right. But when will she ever learn that I will _never_ be exactly where I say?"

Hato shrugged. "That's Seiko for you. She's hopeful."

Mutsuko smiled slightly. Yes, that was Seiko. "She certainly is a character," Mutsuko told herself aloud and joined Hato who was seated on a stone wall.

It took longer than expected for Seiko and Sakai to catch up to Mutsuko and Hato. When asked about this, Sakai replied with a shrug, "We aren't as fast as you two."

It was hard to believe that that was true, at times, but it was. Hato was indeed a very swift runner, although most of the time he chose to take his time with getting places.

"And it was hard to follow your footsteps while we were running," Seiko added hastily. She didn't like the fact that someone like _Hato_, so carefree and who seemingly cared almost nothing about being a ninja, was so much faster than she, Seiko, who took it very seriously.

"Also, Seiko was gabbing. It was distracting."

"Sakai!"

"What? You added something, I figured I should have as well."

Seiko slapped a hand to her forehead in frustration, which caused Hato to laugh.

"Hey! Look, Mutsuko-sensei! Seiko's arguing with Sakai once instead of me!" Hato sounded very much like a little kid as he gleefully exclaimed that, pointing at the golden-haired girl.

Mutsuko smiled. "Well, it's about time. Siblings are _supposed_ to argue."

"Not the Twinjas!" Hato argued good naturedly. He stopped pointing at his teammate and instead held his left foot with that hand, like he was doing to his right foot with the other.

Seiko stopped fuming momentarily and laughed. The nickname Hato had assigned her and Sakai obviously amused her. The same couldn't be said about Sakai though. It annoyed him, if only slightly.

Hato smiled, happy to stop Seiko's anger. And with a simple word. Sometimes it wasn't so easy.

The golden-haired girl took a seat on Hato's free side. Sakai took the seat beside her; all three looked over at their sensei expectantly.

Mutsuko stared right back all of them, head cocked to the side so that her short, light brown hair fell away from her jaw and covered half her face.

_Well_? Why did you want us all to meet. Remember? You said 'After Hato is finished with his spying, we all have to meet up'," Sakai said, staring even harder at the twenty-four-year old woman.

"Oh yes. I suppose I did say that, didn't I?" Mutsuko laughed lightly. "Well, there was no specific reason, which I remember."

Hato lifted on leg so that the bottom of his foot was no longer pressed against the other. The leg dropped off the wall and hung loosely, ground. "Oh," he said, eyes staring at his shoe. He idly drummed his fingers on the metal of his forehead protector, which he wore as a belt, looped through the belt-loops of his shorts.

Soon Seiko joined him. Her fingernails wrapped on the metal of her own forehead protector, which she wore on her wrist. When asked if that was uncomfortable, she shook her head. Sure it didn't exactly fit correctly, and the metal of the forehead protector stuck out a bit, but that was fine with her. She didn't even mind how the powder-blue fabric had to be wrapped around twice before it could be tied, so that it wasn't loose, and it was so tight sometimes it was difficult to move her wrist. She liked it.

Hato smiled over at her, and she immediately stopped tapping at the metal, embarrassed to have been caught doing the same thing that _he_ had been doing.

"Well, I guess you three can all go now," Mutsuko said after a while. Slowly she stood on the dirt road and looked at each of them for a considerable amount of time.

"Meet me in the usual place," she said. Her gaze turned towards Seiko. "I'll try to stay there for once, for your sake."

"Arigato, Mutsuko-sensei," Seiko said. She wasn't at all curious about how her sensei knew that she had been complaining about that to her brother just moments ago.

Just as the woman was about to walk off, she turned back around.

"Oh. And Hato?"

"Yeah?"

"You're doing the same thing again tomorrow. And please, _please_, hide better."

"But Mutsuko-sensei--" Hato began to protest, but was silenced when the woman raised her hand.

"Hush. Maybe there will be some pretty girls you can it on after class lets out, hm?"

Hato's face lit up at the mere though. He vigorously nodded, and Mutsuko suppressed the smile that was fighting its way onto her face. With one last glance at the three, she hurried away.

"Ugh. You are **such** a pig Hato! Is all you can think about _girls_?!" Seiko asked, obviously disgusted.

"Well, if you think it's so gross, be happy that _you_ aren't one of those girls I'm always thinking about," Hato said, not even turning to look at her. And with that, he walked away at a leisurely pace. But neither Seiko nor Sakai bothered to easily catch up with him. Instead, the blonde turned towards her brother, snorted, and ran off in the opposite direction that Hato and Sensei had gone off in.

Sakai looked over at Hato, who had barely gotten anywhere, shook his head, and then ran off after his sister.

* * *

**a/n how'd you like? yeah, I know. a masterpiece. all credit for Seiko and Sakai goes to Legendary Trio.**


	2. Chapter 2

**a.n just warning you, this one is incredibly long...enjoy...

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**Sunrises**  
Chapter Two--Fights

_---_

"One, two, th--" Sakai cut off mid-count as Mutsuko-sensei rounded the corner, smiling in her breathless way. Behind her was Hato. He nodded absently in the direction of his two teammates, earning a wave from Sakai and a glare and a "humph" from Seiko.

Hato cocked an eyebrow in the direction of the other male in the group, but Sakai merely shrugged. It was a rare thing for him to understand what was going on in his sister's head.

Sakai observed as Hato sat down beside his sister and she turned her head away.

"Konichiwa, Seiko-chan!" Hato perkily greeted, leaning towards her so as to see her face; in response to this she grunted again and turned her head around even more, making it impossible for Hato to possibly look her in the eye.

"Well it's a good thing you two won't be working together today!" Mutsuko cheerily commented.

"What?! Mutsuko-sensei! You promised that today we'd be going on a mission!" Seiko angrily exclaimed, her head snapping forward so that her golden ponytail whipped her face.

"Aha!" Hato triumphantly exclaimed for he was able to see her face; Seiko scowled at him but didn't turn away again. Instead she stared hard at her sensei's young face as the woman grinned sheepishly at her pupils.

"Yes, well, when I went to go get a mission from Hokage-sama, there were none left. But I secured one for tomorrow. Hokage-sama promised he'd save one for me."

"Well it better not be a stupid D-ranked mission," Sakai said.

"Yeah!" Hato agreed "Those are so below our level!"

"Yes, yes, I know!" Sensei passively said. "But you'll just have to wait and see. Tomorrow."

"Fine," the three teammates simultaneously sighed. Immediately afterwards they exchanged odd looks and scooted away from one another.

A silence passed over after this; Sakai looked from Hato, to his sister, and then at his sensei before finally breaking the silence that the others didn't seem to mind.

"So Mutsuko-sensei! You and Hato got here earlier than I expected! I thought I'd at **least** get to count to thirty before you got here but I barely got to three!"

Sensei laughed for a moment before replying. "Yes, well Hato was ready early today, surprisingly. I guess he's looking forward to his spy-mission today?" Mutsuko inquiringly raised her eyebrows at her subordinate who returned the look with a cocked eyebrow of his own.

"What?"

Sensei laughed and dismissed the subject with a wave of her hand; Hato scowled at this, but did not pursue the subject and instead just forgot about all of it.

"So since we aren't doing missions today...what _will_ we be doing?" Seiko sounded afraid to even ask.

"Why the usual, of course! My, I'm surprised you three even bother to ask anymore!"

Each of the three sighed loudly. Surprisingly, though, Hato's wasn't the loudest. No, Sakai's was. Everyone turned toward him with wide eyes and waited for him to explain himself. Hato seemed a little offended that his teammate had out-sighed him.

"What?!" Sakai asked, dull blue eyes flickering from one face to the next. "Is a guy not allowed to want some _real_ action? I mean sparring with Seiko is well...boring."

And of course, Seiko being Seiko, she immediately took this as an insult, which it pretty much was, and indignantly shot up from the wall on which she sat. "What are you trying to say, Sakai?! You know, you aren't all that fun to practice with either. In fact, it would be more difficult to defeat a _monkey_ than it would be to defeat you!"

"How would you know? After all, you haven't beaten me **once** in all the time we've been practicing together and Hato's been off spying on this year's graduates," Sakai replied smugly; Hato and Mutsuko-sensei, who had both stepped back a bit and were watching the argument with interest, both thought that Sakai won there with that, but Seiko was not one to give up so easily.

"Well you havent exactly defeated _me_ either, have you?"

"Oh please! If I had really wanted to beat you during any of the times we've sparred, which isn't every day, I remind you, then I could have. I just wanted to make you feel good about yourself. As your brother, that **is** my duty."

Seiko's jaw set and she glared at her twin through narrowed eyes--she looked even angrier than she had when Hato had first arrived at the spot, which was **very** scary considering she had been fuming slightly then, for reasons Hato was still curious about, as were Sakai and Sensei, although neither said anything about it or acted at all curious.

"Okay--that's _it_. Today, we're going to spar, got it Sakai? And I want you to give me everything you've got--ya hear me?!"

Sakai nodded, a smug smirk playing on his face. "It's on," he simply stated and turned to walk away.

"Be prepared to be defeated by a girl. And your sister, no less."

"I wouldn't get _too_ confident, Seiko. It might explode your already gigantic head."

"Right back atcha!" Seiko snapped; she jogged to catch up with her brother who had excused himself from the meeting with his sensei and was strolling away.

"Hey! You two get right back over here!" Mutsuko-sensei called after them. The two siblings halted and turned their heads to look back at the woman.

"Is this really necessary?" she continued. "I mean both of you are very strong and are still growing. After all you're all still Genins, so there's plenty of time for you to get better."

"But we want to know who's better out of the two of us," Sakai replied calmly in a way that was easy to tell he was hiding his irritation about the hold-up.

"Yes, yes. That's all fine and dandy, but I really don't think it's necessary that you do it _now_. After all, I never finished explaining what we'd be doing today."

"Fine, fine. Just make it quick," Seiko ordered as she and her brother absently walked back towards their sensei and teammate.

Mutsuko raised her eyebrows so high that they were liable to fall right off her head. She stared at the golden-haired girl incredulously.

"Oh yes. Will do _mistress_," the woman replied sarcastically. "Now sit down--both of you. You know I have half a mind to make you two do separate things now that you're getting so excited about battling each other."

"No! Don't do that Mutsuko-sensei!" Hato pleaded, shocking his Sensei and Seiko.

"Why not?"

"Because...**I** could get some fun out of this!"

Mutsuko smirked at this comment while Seiko inaudibly grunted, "Jerk."

And if you thought Sakai was going to go without saying anything, you were wrong. "Really? _You_ could? I thought all you got any enjoyment out of was harassing girls."

"Hey! Now **that** isn't fair! I don't _harass_ them, I _flirt_ with them--there's a difference! And as you undoubtedly know, they fall head-over-heels in love with me after just one charming comment."

To this, Seiko snorted. " Whatever you say, Hato. You don't see **me** in love with you, do you?"

To which Hato replied, "Have I never flirted with you, really?"

Seiko opened her mouth to say a snarky comment, but quickly closed her mouth once receiving a glare from Sensei.

"Will you three please just allow me to finish speaking? Please? I understand that I'm not exactly a very strict sensei, but could you please just not take me for granted?" And it was obvious that Mutsuko was ticked off.

"Yeah you two. Stop arguing," Sakai added.

"Wha-what?! You're the one who started it!" Seiko and Hato complained in unison.

"QUIET!" Sensei bellowed, immediately catching everyone's attention. "Now Hato--once you are done spying I want you to go train with Seiko and Sakai. Don't report to me until next time we meet, okay? Now that may be tomorrow morning or later this evening--most likely the latter. Now as for Seiko and Sakai--I want you two to practice your special techniques--I don't want you two messing up on them tomorrow. If you can spar and do that at the same time, that's fine. But if the sparring interferes with training--forget about it. Understood?"

"Hai!" the three simultaneously responded.

"Good. Now you may go," Mutsuko-sensei said tiredly as she dropped down to the bench.

Seiko and Sakai immediately set off, no doubt heading towards their favorite training grounds inside a patch of trees.

Hato, on the other hand, decided to wait if for but a moment and plopped down beside his trainer.

After a long silence, he finally said, "You know they're going to battle anyway, right?"

"Oh yes, I know. I just thought I should be tougher than usual."

Another pause.

"I bet you one-hundred yen that Sakai will win."

"No way! Seiko will _totally_ kick his butt!" Hato excitedly countered. "But yeah, I'm totally in for a good bet."

"Good."

---

"So you think they fell for it?" Sakai loudly inquired. It was necessary for him to speak this way if he was to be heard over the wind he and Seiko were making as the sped along.

"Oh _totally_!" Seiko replied just as loudly, if not louder. "Did you see their faces while we were arguing?! It was **priceless**!"

Sakai let out a laugh. "Yeah. It was," he agreed.

"Yeah..." Seiko's voice briefly drifted off. However, it was soon back and she asked her twin, "But don't you think some of the things you said to me were a bit...I don't know...**cold**?"

Sakai laughed at this. "The things _I_ said?! You said a **monkey** would be more difficult to defeat than me. We never planned on you saying that!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Sakai. Like '_ I just wanted to make you feel good about yourself. As your brother, that is my duty.'_ and _'I wouldn't get too confident, Seiko. It might explode your already gigantic head.'_ weren't just as mean."

But I said those **after** you made your comment."

"Hows about we just stop arguing now--before we _actually_ get angry at each other and fight."

"But I **want** to fight," Sakai whimpered; he looked so pathetically cute as he gave his sister the puppy-eye look that she just barely managed to see under his bangs, and the thrust-out lower lip didn't help him look any more mature.

"Yeah, I kind of do, too, actually," Seiko said with a chuckle.

Side-by-side the two jumped up onto a tree branch and continued on into the forest where they would eventually stop and train/ spar as they had said to Mutsuko-sensei they'd do.

"Do you even remember why we decided to do that last night?" Seiko asked after she and her brother had hopped a few trees.

"I think we thought it would be funny and we'd enjoy doing it?" Saki replied, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Yeah that must have been why..."

"Yeah..." Sakai looked back ahead only to turn his attention back to his sister and saying, "I feel sort of bad for Hato."

"Why?"

"Because we sort of stole his job, making that kind of joke and all. You know...a prank."

"I don't," Seiko irritably snorted. "Besides, Hato's job is to flirt with every girl in the universe before he turns sixteen."

"Well I'd say he's off to a good start," Sakai laughed; the question he, his sensei, and Hato had all been asking themselves since when they all first met that morning popped into Sakai's head again, but he decided to wait until later to ask his sister about it.

"Yeah, I'd say he is," Seiko mumbled. And with that, there was complete silence again but for the rustling of leaves as they hurried past.

---

Once Hato arrived at the Academy he saw a man whom he could only assume was 'Iruka-sensei' as his own Mutsuko-sensei called him (Hato's class was under the guidance of another Chuunin) leading a bunch of people around twelve years of age away from the school.

Hato recognized some of the heads as those from the class which he had been spying on and immediately began following.

Only when they stopped at a large piece of flat land with nothing but trees coming after it did Hato understand what they were doing--field practice. His own class had only done these a few these the entire time they were at the Academy--all but two of which had been during their last year.

_It's about time_ Hato thought to himself with a smirk.

Getting closer to the crowd but still hiding the large shrubs that surrounded the perimeter of the field, Hato could see the faces of the students./ And by the expression on most of those faces, Hato--_correctly_--guessed that it was their first time.

"Okay, everyone! Find yourself a partner so we can get started!" the man known as Iruka-sensei instructed after turning to face the mob of students.

After just a couple simple words uttered by the man the whole scene went wild. The students shoved about in search of their friends and calling out their names. Hato couldn't make out a single one since everyone was all making so much noise, so he was surprised that the students actually could. Or, he **assumed** they could ,considering people replied to the slurred calls.

And within seconds, only a few people were left without partners. Most of these were girls. but there **Were** three guys left. But the boys didn't interest Hato, and neither did the girl_s_.

A girl with bright blue eyes and a blonde ponytail stood there in the field--alone and with no partner.

"I'd pair up with her in a heartbeat," Hato whispered to himself, craning his neck just a bit so he could get a better look at her and yet still concealing himself behind the bush.

"Cho-chan!! Over here!" Hato heard someone call after all the noise had died down. The bright-eyed girl whom Hato so intently watched looked over at the one who had called her--a "Chubby" boy holding a bag of some snack and standing beside a thinner boy who seemed completely bored--and smiled.

"Okay! Hang on a moment!" she called back and tightened her ponytail; it was then that Hato remembered it was a blonde girl who wore her hair up in a ponytail that had caught him just three days earlier, but after a moment he knew that it wasn't this girl. Hato had already seen the one who had caught him earlier, although he wasn't sure then where he recognized her from--he was now--and she was paired up with another girl.

When Hato cleared his thoughts again and continued looking on, the girl had already walked towards the snacking boy and his friend. And as much as Hato strained his ears to hear what was going on over there, he couldn't hear anything--and the twitters coming from a group of girls nearby didn't help at all.

For the first time in his life Hato felt himself glaring at all of those girls, willing for them to just _shut up_ so he could listen to the pony-tail girl whom he had just figured out was named 'Cho', despite the fact the snacking-boy had called to her several minutes ago. Hato actually wished that all of those girls, many of which were pretty, would just disappear. And all so he could just pay better attention to the girl named Cho.

A couple of minutes later Cho stepped back into ear range; Hato unknowingly broke into a grin. It was as if she had been listening to his thoughts and was trying to make it easier for him.

After quickly looking around again, Cho took a couple steps towards one of the remaining girls who Hato noticed looked very disappointed, but before she could suggest them being partners, a boy hopped in front of her.

_Is she as popular with the boys as I am with the girls?_ Hato wondered. He hoped she wasn't--there'd be more competition for him if he actually decided he wanted to be serious with her.

"Konichiwa Cho-san!" the boy, who wore a ridiculously large, floppy hat, exclaimed.

Quickly Hato moved to a bush closer in so he could get a better view of everything. This bush was much larger, and was definitely big enough for him to hide in--so he did.

Hato got settled just in time to hear Cho, who was still scoping the area and not paying the boy much attention at all, say, "Eh."

And for some reason, she shuddered.

"Oh are you cold? I could give you my jacket?" the floppy-hat boy had a very childish voice, Hato noted.

"What? Oh, no. Just...never mind. Was there something you needed?"

_Okay...this is getting really boring_ Hato sighed. He wanted to see how these Academy students fought, but the Iruka man was just standing there watching as the wannabe-ninjas socialized.

"Oh yeah! Want to be my partner?"

Cho began to object and was trying to slowly get away from him, and her eyes were wildly looking about. Only two people were left.

"Sure. I have no one else to be with."

_Does she like him?!_ Hato wondered for one brief moment, but quickly decided against it. He didn't sense there was a likeable bone in that boy's body. And besides, Cho didn't seem too thrilled to be partnered with him.

"Great!"

"Yeah...super!" she forced a microscopic smile and looked away, her eyes catching on something. Hato followed her gaze and spotted an orange jumpsuit worn by a boy with vibrant yellow hair.

"Does everyone have a partner?" Iruka-sensei asked, his eyes flickering back and forth. "If not then please raise your hand!"

"Okay then! Now let me explain what we're going to be doing today! The reason I had you all bring some weapons is because we're doing some field practice today! You'll be battling against your partner with simple techniques. Obviously weapon usage is allowed. But I want no serious damage done, understood? That means no killing and no headshots!"

The man ordained Iruka looked from face to face. This took several minutes, but once he had finally looked at each pair of people, he clapped his hands together and called out, "Okay so does everybody get what we're doing?"

When nobody said anything the man took this as a qualified 'yes' and continued on to say, "Everyone, find a spot for you and your partner to spar in and then start! I'll be observing!"

Cho and her partner stayed where they were, and Hato was tempted to do the same, but he had a job to do, even if he wasn't exactly sure what it was for. If he just observed one group then he wouldn't be following orders and Mutsuko-sensei would most likely not be pleased.

So, inwardly moaning, Hato crawled out from under the bush and jumped to one of the few trees that lines the sides. After jumping up a few times, he finally settled on a branch towards the lower middle settled there. From that height he could observe every single battle at once. And, if necessary, he could look closer using his binoculars.

Smiling to himself, Hato made himself as comfortable as one can be while crouching on a tree branch and watched as the Academy students began to spar.

---

"Sakai!" Seiko whined, dropping her arms at her side and looking over at her brother who was practicing techniques only a few feet away. "I'm tired of doing this. Can we _please_ battle now?"

Sakai gaze his sister a blank stare and remained silent; at first Seiko thought the rusty-haired boy wasn't going to say anything, but finally, he said quietly, You heard what Mutsuko-sensei said."

"Yes, she said to perfect our techniques for tomorrow before we even think about sparring. But she won't know!"

Sakai, still concentrating on his jutsus, hesitated before saying, "She will if we mess up completely, now won't she?"

"I guess...but won't we be too tired to fight after we practice so much?"

Sakai shrugged. "It could go either way, couldn't it?"

"I suppose..."Seiko was silent for a long time before looking back at her brother with one finely arched eyebrow raised. "Didn't you just say before that you wanted to fight."

Sakai bent over, touching his toes with his fingertips to get himself stretched for whatever reason it was. "Things change," he grunted as he straightened himself again and began doing quads. "Or maybe I just want to wait until my techniques are better before I use them against you."

The male grinned widely at his sister, pushing aside his bangs so that his fingertips brushed against the cold metal of his forehead protector; his dull blue eyes didn't look so dull for once for they were sparkling with a hint of excitement that Seiko rarely saw. She grinned back at her twin, did a few quick stretches and then continued practicing as well.

Suddenly she was eager to perfect the jutsus as well.

---

Most of the Academy students were barely managing to touch their partners, let alone **hurt** them. That was the problem with being paired with someone you liked--it was difficult for you to find the willpower to actually _hit_ them. That was why partners were always chosen by the sensei in Hato's class.

Once again, Hato found his eyes--or rather, binoculars--wandering toward blonde girl and floppy-hat boy's fight. He couldn't help it. Not only was she former attractive, but she was one good fighter. And the boy wasn't half bad either, when he actually tried. By far, their fight was the most interesting.

In place of where the two Hato watched most stood was a giant pink/ash smoke cloud. Cho stood half a foot away, looking hesitant on stepping inside. Even from the height Hato was watching from he could hear her opponents coughing--and it didn't sound good.

Deciding to look away for a few moments Hato scanned the scene until he found the two boys Cho had been speaking with earlier--bored boy and snacking boy.

"Bingo!" Hato whispered to himself as he zoomed the binoculars in closer since the two partners had decided to go pretty far away from the others.

Snacking boy had tripled in size, but bored boy didn't seem to care. Quickly he formed a few handseals and then had the larger boy trapped in a shadow. Hato had heard of that technique before--the shadow bind. The Nara clan was famous for it. No ninja outside of that family seemed to be able to use it as well as them.

_He must be a Nara..._ Hato thought to himself. _And by the looks of the other guy...that looks like a technique from the Akimichi family, if I remember correctly._

Mutsuko-sensei had made Hato and his teammates study the different clans and their techniques many times over and over until they finally had all the ones in the books memorized.

But that had been a year ago, and when Hato didnt care about something too much he tended to forget completely about it.

Losing interest quickly in the two, Hato turned his binoculars back to Cho and her partner. The cloud of smoke had mostly dissipated by this point, and if Hato strained his eyes he could see exactly what was going on down there.

Cho had thrown a shuriken at her partner and it had lodged itself into his back. The boy's scream was blood-curdling and Hato winced when he heard even its echoes.

The boy fell to his knees, pulled the weapon that had caused blood to spurt out of his back--but thankfully not as much as the kunai thrown earlier had--out of his skin, leaving a stain the same color as another lower in his back. After this floppy-hat boy writhed about in pain.

Cho watched with obvious terror as her partner massaged his damp, sore shoulder. And once the smoke was completely gone she let out the lung-shattering cough she had been holding in.

After the two exchanged a few words the boy's eyes locked with Cho's. The boy's had at some point turned blood shot. At first Hato had thought that it was from possible crying but after a while he changed his mind, maybe a technique he had done earlier caused it? Hato remembered reading something about a jutsu like that.

After the boy mouthed a few words that looked very much like "say yes, nod your head." Cho nodded her head.

Seemingly no battling was going on so, as the two talked back and forth, Hato allowed himself to turn his attention to another sparring group, only to find that they had all surrounded the two who he had been watching for such a long time.

"I guess this is about to get interesting. They obviously all think so," Hato muttered to himself. After inching forward on his stomach and pushing a cluster of leaves aside, he got an even better view and continued watching the blonde and the hat-boy.

---

Sakai quickly finished up a move, took a deep breath, and turned to his sister who was resting on the ground after having perfected her special jutsus as much as she could a couple minutes ago.

Let's do it soon?" Sakai suggested, collapsing on the ground beside his twin; she merely nodded, liking this idea, and fell onto her back, allowing her heavy lids to close over her tired eyes.

Sakai took one look at her and instantly felt even sleepier. Turning onto his side and resting his head on his hands, he allowed sleep to overtake him.

Who knew practicing jutsus could be so draining?

---

It had only been a couple minutes, and nothing really had happened. Hato was annoyed that he couldn't hear what was going on. Taking into account all the bodies surrounding the--what could once be called--battle, Hato decided he wouldn't be noticed.

Jumping from branch to branch until he finally reached the ground, he quickly scampered to the side of the crowd which was closer to Cho and her partner and hovered near the back.

"It's a hypnosis jutsu. My ancestors created it to get through tough battles. You see my family isn't too strong. We get tired easily. And with this jutsu, we easily defeat opponents. This way it doesnt drag on too long--if we use it right away. It takes up almost all our chakra to use," Hato heard the boy saying, to which Cho replied:

"Didn't you use it on that Keiko girl yesterday?"

"Oh so you saw that? Checking me out were you?"

After a slight pause Cho gave an airy laugh. Such a noise didn't sound natural coming from the girl. For some reason, Hato pictured her more of the type of girl who had loud hearty laughs and tiny, cute giggles.

Quickly thinking of the words which the boy with the floppy hat had said just moments before--since Hato was sure that somewhere in there he had said what kind of jutsu it was--Hato found what he was looking for.

_"It's a hypnosis jutsu."_

So he was controlling what Cho was doing, hm? How nice.

"What did you tell her to do?" Cho inquired with a strained voice.

"Oh nothing. Just made her get really sick is all. You see, my hypnosis jutsu surpasses any of those before me. I can do more than merely make a person say 'moo' or bark like a dog. I perfected this at the age of five, and then went on to build at it. I can make a person do anything. Not only them but also the germs inside them, as well as other things. I can do anything with my move--even change emotions and feelings. Towards another person or being, or even just a mood. I'm _**that good**_."

"Why...did you...do that...to her?"

"The other day she insulted me. Called me a freak, a pervert, and annoying. I'm sure there was more but--"

"So you made her sick?! How sick exactly?!"

Out of the corner of his eye Hato somehow managed to see the boy in this match mouthing something in a menacing way; his red eyes flashed.

Cho said nothing but instead pressed her lips together--_hard_. So hard, in fact that they formed a perfectly straight, white line.

"Fine. I'll tell you. She's very sick. Deadly even. I'm not even sure there's a cure for what I gave her," floppy boy said indifferently after giving a sigh.

Just because she called you a few names?! You know you could have ignored her! Or if you had to get revenge on her you could have humiliated her or...beat her up! Something I don't suggest but...it's better than possible killing her!" Clearly, the girl speaking was dumbfounded; Hato himself was as well.

"Maybe you think so but not me. I have had enough of the teasing and name calling. I've had nothing but that for years. Anyone who dares do anything to me from now on--they're going down! YOU ALL HEAR THAT?!!! YOU'RE GOING **DOWN**!"

The boy was positively fuming as he looked around at the crowd that had formed; Cho also looked up and immediately blushed. It was obvious she hadn't known that they had drawn a crowd.

"Now back to you..." Seiichi mumbled, turning back towards his partner; Hato's heart began to race in panic. He was worried about this girl who he didn't even know--something that he had never felt before. He didnt particularly like it either.

"NO YOU...MONSTER!!!" Cho screamed after a brief pause; Hato wondered what it was that her partner had ordered her to do.

The floppy boy was too surprised that Cho had escaped his hypnosis jutsu to avoid Cho as she ran at him full speed with a balled fist. First she rammed into his stomach, and then his jaw.

Hato winced at this. That **had** to hurt.

"How could you kill a girl? Or even think of it?! You know what could happen to you? No that would be selfish--think about the grief her family and friends will go to. And then the guilt that will be put on you! It will all be your fault! Now if you don't get rid of that...disease I'll make you! And trust me--I don't need some dumb Hypnosis Jutsu!"

The boy out of the two had been knocked to the ground during the punches. Angrily, he stood up, grabbed a kunai, and spat, "Make me!"

"Believe me--I WILL! And it isn't going to be some nice skip down the forest path!"

The two opponents ran at each other. Hato thought that it was rather unfair that the boy had a kunai while Cho had only her fist, but she didnt seem to care all that much. She narrowly avoided the sharp weapon by curving her back as her partner ran past her.

"Come on and fight, Lady," Cho's partner sneered.

"Two steps ahead of you, Seiichi-_kun_," the blonde spat venomously at the boy with light brown hair.

_So **that's** his name_, Hato thought to himself, for he had been wondering for a while.

Suddenly the girl in the field was behind Seiichi, about to attack, when he came spinning around, whacking his in the nose with his elbow. Cho staggered back with blood flowing rapidly from her nose.

"Seiichi, Cho! I think this is enough! You two are obviously skilled but you have taken it too far!" Iruka-sensei shouted, but they both ignored him.

Seiichi lowered himself a but and whispered something that Hato had failed to catch. But it was impossible to miss hearing Cho's loud retort of, "Fat chance of that happening."

Again the boy spoke in a voice so low that the blonde thirteen-year-old spectator was unable to make out what it was being said. However he had managed to figure out that it was menacing.

"What else can you do besides the Hypnosis?" Cho asked of Seiichi; her voice sounded clogged due to her undoubtedly broken nose which was still flowing like a waterfall.

Seiichi smirked, eyes flashing. "You'll see; you'll see."

So quickly that no one could possibly manage to comprehend what they were, Seiichi formed hand seals. But whatever the jutsu was it made a swarm of razor-sharp leaves mixed with kunai and shuriken fly at Cho as they glimmered in the sunlight.

It was a secret attack of Konoha, obviously. Why else would it have leaves? Not many people could do it though, that Hato knew.

All of those weapons and leaves had in some way or another made their target without hitting any of the surrounding people; Cho fell to the ground for barely a moment before scrambling back to her feet and running as far as she dared.

"You're scared, are you?" Seiichi shouted darkly. "And with good reason! These aren't just any weapons..."

Hato was barely listening to the boy's shouted; he was too concerned about Cho. Was she alright? Did she need help? Never before had Hato ever been so willing to help _anyone_--especially a stranger. He was usually only compelled to help Seiko or Sakai--who he knew were very capable ninjas--because he wanted pass the mission. It wasn't raw concern that forced him to do it--**ever**

With her hands slapped over her ears, Cho screamed, "**"What _are_ you?!**Do you have some sort of problem?! Are you trying to KILL me! This is training! You've taken this much too far! FREAK!"

Seiichi's eyes sharpened, but he pulled back the kunai, shuriken, and leaves nonetheless. They fell to the ground all around, most landing right in front of the girl with her hands clapped over her ears.

"Happy? Now let's continue this--close combat. You're a good opponent, Cho-san."

"Thanks," Cho panted.

Hato tugged at the bottom of his dirty white t-shirt and wondered how she could possible find the willpower to thank that guy, even if it was common courtesy.

_Maybe she's just nicer than you_ a wicked voice hissed inside Hato's head; the boy frowned. He wasn't trying to be vain, but he was a pretty nice guy, which would make Cho...

Hato looked intently at her, head tilted to the side, and smiled softly. Yes, she looked genuinely nice. He could see it hidden--for the moment--in her eyes.

Hato turned his attention back to the match and noticed that Seiichi was running towards Cho, taking shots. The girl avoided most, but some of his attacks skimmed her ears.

"And you thought I was weak," Seiichi said disdainfully. "I've showed you, haven't I?"

"Sure. But You keep falling for the same dumb tricks!" Cho said from behind him with a smirk on her face. He spun around; Cho wasn't there. She was back in front of him and punched him in the stomach, sending him flying.

"Why you little..." The boy ran at Cho with a tightly clenched fist. He seemed to be flying as the wind pulled back his cheeks and his trademark hat slowly slid from his head.

His fist made impact on Cho's stomach which she covered with her orange shirt. The girl cringed noticeable, fell to her knees with a 'thud' and then to her chest.

"Ha! I've won!" He declared after bending close to me to inspect. Triumphant, he walked away towards the crowd.

Hato was so busy watching Seiichi with scorn that he didn't notice Cho silently and skillfully get up from the ground. Only when Hato noticed the girl approaching her opponent from behind did he smirk and notice that she was only pretending to be unconscious.

Grabbing Seiichi by the shoulders, Cho spun him around and kicked him in the jaw. That one hit sent the boy flying through the air. It would be a miracle if he didn't break his neck after landing head-first on the ground.

"How can they fight like this? We're all just beginners. Cho hasn't even been in the Academy before..." Someone from in front of Hato whispered.

"She hasn't? Wow, she must have gotten private training," Hato muttered to himself in amazement. He only knew of a few people who actually did that.

Hato returned to observing Cho, who was staring upward at the sky. As he saw Seiichi--who seemed to be perfectly fine after his hit with the ground--then sneaking up on Cho, Hato wanted to scream out to the girl, but he knew he couldn't. His job was to remain undetected as he watched.

With a sigh Cho brought her attention back to the task at hand--just in time for Seiichi's fist to slam into the side of her head.

It sent her staggering.

"Somebody catch her!" a girl shrieked.

"Oh what a drag...how come I had to be stuck right by her?" the Nara boy groaned after having caught her; Hato stared enviously at the guy. He'd have **gladly** caught the stranger.

"I could have caught her you know," the Akimichi boy informed his friend.

"Yes but you were too busy snacking, and your hands were full..."

_Sounds like he's glad he had the opportunity to catch her to me,_ Hato thought to himself as he turned his attention to a smug-looking Seiichi who didn't seem at all fazed by the numerous glares he was receiving.

And then, the orange-clad boy Cho had earlier been watching came running into the field, doing something Hato very much felt like doing as well--he socked Seiichi in the face which, once again, made the boy fly backwards.

And after that the class was over. Hato stayed around until Cho was sent to the medical center and the students began to disperse. Then, with one final, disdainful look at the blood-covered face of Seiichi, he ran off to find his teammates.

---

A kunai was thrown from somewhere in the trees, narrowly missing the sleeping Seiko's head.

But Sakai, who was only half-asleep, saw it.

Immediately he shot up and absently shook his sisters shoulder with one hand as he leaned over her to grab the kunai with another. All the while he scanned the area, looking for the offender.

But he didn't see the person.

"Seiko wake **up**!" Sakai hissed; he had never known his twin to be such a deep sleeper, so why now all of a sudden?

Seiko grumbled something in her sleep and turned over just as another kunai came slicing through the air; Sakai failed to manage to see where it had come from. Cursing himself, he quickly threw his body on top of his unconscious sister to shield her from the attack.

Who _was_ this?

"SEIKO!" Sakai screamed, sitting up straight so that, just in case she suddenly sat up, he wasnt on top of her. "Come on! This isn't funny! **WAKE UP**!" Sakai wasn't one to yell, but this was a dangerous situation. He was tired, practically drained of all his chakra, and his sister was laying unconscious in the grass--while someone was attacking them, no less.

Who would be doing that, anyway? Certainly not Hato. Even _he_ wasn't so stupid as to pull such a dangerous prank.

Another kunai.

This one, unlike the other, didn't miss Sakai when he threw his body over his sister. He winced as the blade went into his back and stayed there. Sakai didn't like the feeling of warm blood staining his black shirt and beige jacket.

Trembling as he straightened himself, Sakai took his chance and slapped his twin across the face; this instantly awakened her. And, unfortunately, she was in a rage as soon as she shot upwards.

"Sakai! Wh-what the _heck_ was that for?! Do you know how **well** I was sleeping?! DO YOU?!" she screamed so loudly Sakai thought his ears would bleed.

"Well sorry! Should I have just let you lay there unconscious while kunai were being thrown at us?" Sakai sarcastically inquired, earning a snort from the blonde of the two.

"No one was throwing kunai at us, Sakai, of that Im sure--even if I was just asleep. You must have been dreaming."

"Oh yeah? Is **this** a dream?" Sakai turned around and smirked when his sister gasped.

Seiko's hand hovered above the handle of the kunai; her fingertips brushed against the warm metal, and her hand retreated.

"Wh-who?" she stuttered as her brother turned back around.

"I don't know--I haven't gotten to see them yet," Sakai replied. As another weapon--this time a shuriken--came flying out from a tree, Sakai, who was on the alert, grabbed Seiko and ducked.

"It came from there!" he whispered, pointing to a tree in front of the to the left; Seiko nodded and, as if reading each other's minds, the two grabbed weapons from out of their pouches.

Simultaneously they threw the weapons to the tree where Sakai had pointed to. The two shuriken ripped through the leaves and, it was obvious by the noise made, hit a body.

Or two, rather, as Seiko and Sakai discovered when two men clad in all black with faces covered by white masks hopped down from the tree. Each man bore a shuriken sticking out of their right upper arm.

"Congratulations--you found us," one of them, a man with tan skin and dark hair, growled.

"Too bad _we_ found **you** first," the other added smugly, brushing his light brown hair from his brown eyes.

Seiko snorted and, in an overly confident way, retorted, "Yeah, too bad for you. You guys have to fight us--the TWINJAS!!"

The two black-clad men exchanged an amused glance before the first one gently inquired, "Twinjas?"

"Yes! Got a problem with that?!" Seiko snapped, her dull blue eyes flashing dangerously as she looked from one man to the other; Sakai gently grabbed her shoulder and forcefully pulled her back.

"Are you stupider than Hato?" he growled. "These are grown men, and we're practically drained of all our Chakra. They could easily defeat us!"

"I doubt it!" Seiko replied with a snort. "They aren't even ninjas!"

"There are other things just as dangerous as ninjas," Sakai said grimly; Seiko didn't get a chance to say anything to that because the second man had opened his mouth and was speaking.

"Um, excuse me, little girl?"

"What?!" Seiko snapped, eyes flashing again, as she whirled around the face the man who dared call her a 'little girl'

"Sorry to interrupt you and your brother's argument, but we just had to correct you on one thing..."

"And that would _be ?" _

"We _are_ ninjas," the first nonchalantly stated.

Seiko paled and suddenly, she had no more to say. Instead she opened and closed her mouth like a fish before turning to face Sakai who merely shrugged.

Taking a step forward, the rusty-haired boy cleared his throat. "What do you want with us?"

"Well, I guess we should tell them, shouldn't we?" the second asked of the first.

The first nodded and gruffly said, "We're here to kill you."

Seiko's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Ex-_cuse_ me?!"

"You heard me." And before Seiko or Sakai could do anything, the second man made hand seals while the first ran towards them with kunai sticking out between each finger.

Sakai fell to his stomach in order to dodge it; the man tread on his arm, but missed him otherwise.

"You deal with him--I'll take care of the girl!" the man who had been making hand seals called as Seiko came stampeding towards him.

"Right!"

Sakai hopped to his feet and quickly made some quick hand seals before the man he was supposed to be dealing with could come back at him; his arm was sore after having been crushed by the man's full weight, but he ignored it and focused on fighting.

And then two dozen giant (two-three foot long) gerbils surrounded Sakai. The boy knew this wasn't much of a defense, so he quickly made more hand seals. Individually each gerbil began to spin quickly, making dirt and grass fly through the air, hitting the man in the face--this wasn't the attack, just a perk.

Some of the gerbils went under ground and shot up again, attacking the black-clad man while others jumped high up using the chakra Sakai had lent to them and attacked the man with extended claws and sharp teeth.

While they did that Sakai grabbed a string of kunai, wrapped it around his body, and then took a handful of shuriken and one simple smoke bomb, being careful not to poke himself with the shuriken.

And then, like the gerbils, he began to spin wildly. While he was doing this, he first threw out the smoke bomb which, fortunately, came in contact with the man being attacked be gerbils and he became blinded for then--Sakai noticed that he didn't cough, and he didn't think it was because of the mask.

After the smoke bomb part was done Sakai began to move in circles around the man, coming and closer and closer all the time. Every few seconds he'd throw a shuriken, not sure if it was hitting the man or not, although since the man grunted every once in a while Sakai was sure some did.

And then, Sakai was circling the man so close that the kunai ripped through his clothes, and more than likely his skin, too.

The man made no noise but he did push Sakai away, sending the boy spinning into a tree where he slid to the ground, dizzy.

---

Out of the corner of her eye Seiko watched as her brother very skillfully fought the man, but she couldn't put too much concentration on her brother, because she too had to fight a man.

"I find it rude that you think you can take time to pay attention to Sakai," the man said after deflecting another one of Seiko's kunai--she wasn't yet ready to use any jutsus.

"Yes well, _I_ find it rude that you want to kill us."

The man grunted and then jumped into the protection of a tree. When he jumped back out a minute later, just as Seiko was preparing herself to jump up there with him so that he couldn't escape, there were two of him.

Seiko knew that she could no longer just use kunai and shuriken--it was time to use some jutsus.

Hamsters piled on top of her, all the same size as Sakai's gerbils, and hid her as she made more hand seals.

The amount of hamsters tripled, only 2/3 of them were faded, just ghosts of the original. Seiko jumped out from the heap of hamsters with two ghosts of her following behind.

The two faded images of the real thing slowly came out from behind Seiko and stood at her sides. The man she faced and his clone stood in front of them; no one made a move until Seiko kicked upward, making contact with the man--or was it his clone?

Her ghosts did just as she did, and their kick was just as hard as hers. The man flew backwards and hit the ground, only to disappear.

So it was his clone.

Seiko took a step toward the real man she faced, and her ghosts did along with her, and she summoned for all the hamsters to come; they surrounded their master, snarling viciously at the man she face. And then, with a snap of her fingers, they attacked, latching onto him and not letting go, as much as he writhed.

And in the midst of all the confusion, Seiko and her ghost-clones spread out to attack him at three angles.

Just as their kunai they held were about to go into the man, a voice cut through all of the battle, a familiar voice, and Seiko dropped her weapons.

"HEY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Seiko caught sight of her brother, collapsed against a tree with his opponent creping towards him, as she spun around to see who the owner of the voice was.

Mutsuko-sensei.

As usual Hato was following behind her. The smile he constantly wore was there, but it wasn't the same as usual. It was wistful.

"You can all stop fighting here. The sun's about to set and I want to go home and rest, and I can't do so while there are two Jounin ninjas playing around with me subordinates!"

"But Mutsuko--' the man who was fighting Sakai before began to protest, but the woman held up her hand and he was silenced.

"Asuma, help Sakai up and **keep** him up since you obviously did that to him. Seiko--drop all weapons and call the hamsters off of Genma."

Seiko reluctantly did as she was told, and also called away all the ghost replications.

Why was her sensei on first name basis with these people who planned on killing her and her brother?

Seiko wandered over to Sakai and forcefully took him from the black-clad man, slapping his face until he woke up. Immediately the rusty-haired boy looked over at the man he had been fighting and smiled triumphantly when he saw the man wounds he had given him.

"I was watching the entire fight," Mutsuko-sensei began to say as she approached the man she called Genma, "and I have to say--"

"That I saw two Academy students fight better than you," Hato humorously interrupted; even though he was only joking, this made Seiko fume. If she hadn't been holding up her brother who was taking his sweet old time putting his feet on the ground she would have gone over and beat him up. She hadn't yet forgiven him for a comment he had made three days ago.

"Yes, Hato was watching as well, but that wasn't what I was going to say," Mutsuko said with a smile as she began to wipe dirt from Genma's black clothing.

Seiko pretended not to notice that the Asuma guy was watching with an obvious scowl.

"I was **going,** to say that, even though the fight didn't really last long, you two fought well."

Sakai grinned weakly as he pressed a hand to his head while Seiko smirked.

And then Mutsuko went to address Asuma and Genma, smiling playfully. "And you two!' she exclaimed, placing both hands on her hips and looking back and forth between the attackers. "You guys are grown men--_Jounins_. I send you guys to--"

"Wait, wait, _wait_ a minute!" Seiko interrupted. "You **sent** them?!"

Annoyed by the interruption--again--Mutsuko irritably and indifferently replied, Yes, yes, I sent them. Now let me finish, okay? So I send you guys to surprise attack my subordinates so that they get some really good practice and you guys totally get beat up! Genma--did you even **hit** Seiko?!"

The one ordained Genma shook his head and shrugged. "It's against my nature to hit an innocent girl--especially a Genin--even a cheeky one like her. But I did get Sakai in the back with a kunai."

"Yeah that was a good shot. But poor Sakai got beat up--I guess it's payback for getting Asuma so much, hm?" Mutsuko-sensei winked at the man Asuma.

The man blushed and grumbled something inaudibly as he pulled his face mask down and grabbed a cigarette, quickly lighting it and putting it to his lips.

"Anyway! Thanks again Asuma, Genma! You showed the two a nice surprise attack--something they've been needing."

"Not a problem," Asuma replied and let a puff of smoke escape his mouth.

"I guess we should be going now?" Genma suggested, looking over at the slightly younger smoking man, who nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you two around...are you sure you don't want me to pay you?" Mutsuko put one slender hand into her pocket as an act to pull out money, but Genma grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand back out before she could.

"That won't be necessary. It was...fun. I don't think I've ever been attacked by hamsters before." And the light-haired man winked at Seiko.

"Yeah. And it certainly was an experience being mauled by gerbils," Asuma added with a chuckle. "But you guys were good, no doubt about it. You certainly live up to the title as the best Genin team..."

"But you didnt see me fight!" Hato protested.

Seiko's head shot up. Hato had been so silent she had forgotten he was there.

Asuma chuckled. "Not this time, no. But I've seen you practicing, and I'm sure Genma has, too. Plus, I saw you spying on the Academy kids today, good job."

Hato beamed. "Arigato."

Asuma nodded and the, in the blink of an eye, he and Genma were gone.

Mutsuko-sensei ushered Seiko and Sakai to where she and Hato stood.

"So did you two every have that fight?" she inquired, running a hand through her short hair.

Sakai shook his head. "No. Genma-sensei and Asuma-sensei came before we could."

"Oh. Then I guess you'll have to do it some other time," Mutsuko said airily in order to hide the disappointment from her voice.

"Wait just a minute!" Hato exclaimed. "I say Seiko won since she managed not to get majorly injured during that battle!"

"Yeah!" Seiko agreed; Mutsuko looked over at Sakai to see if he agreed as well, and he gave a half-hearted nod.

"YES! Score!" Seiko gleefully exclaimed, punching the air. "Come on, we should go, Sakai."

"Yeah. Sayonara Hato and Mutsuko-sensei!"

"Sayonara!" Seiko said as well and then, with Seiko supporting her still dizzy brother, they went off.

As soon as she was sure they were gone Mutsuko turned towards the blonde boy with narrowed eyes. "You only said that because of the bet," she accused.

Hato shrugged. "Yeah. You heard for yourself--Genma-sensei doesn't hit girls." Shrugging again he went to walk off, but halted and looked over his shoulder at the young woman. "But you still owe me that money."

Mutsuko scowled but nodded nonetheless, and then, quickly catching up to her pupil, they headed back home together--since they lived in the same apartment building.

---

"So...Seiko?" Sakai began unsurely several hours later. The two were sitting out on their front porch, swinging back and forth on the porch bench.

"Hm?" Seiko looked at her twin with raised eyebrows.

"Why are you so mad at Hato?" It felt good to finally ask the question after waiting all day.

Seiko hesitated before answering into her lap, "It's because of something he said a couple days ago. And then his comment about those Academy students fighting better than us didn't help any."

"But he was just joking!"

Seiko shrugged. "Yeah but...you know me. I'm snippy..."

"Yeah, you are..." Sakai agreed, looking up at the midnight-blue sky.

"Yeah I--hey! You weren't supposed to agree!"

Sakai shrugged, a wicked grin on his face. "Would you rather I lie than offend you?"

Seiko shook her head and began twiddling with her fingers.

"So...what was the thing he said a couple days ago that got you 'steamed'?"

Seiko hesitated before answering in a whisper, "The thing where he said 'be happy you aren't one of the girls I'm always thinking about.'"

"Why'd that make you upset?"

Seiko shrugged again. "It just _did_."

Sakai didn't say anything else although he though he might know why she felt that way. But since he couldn't be sure and he didn't want her sister to get any angrier, he kept his mouth shut.

* * *

**a/n first off, Hato's scenes were from Chapter four of BP, only him viewing it. also the powers for Seiko and Sakai are (basically) from the mind of Legendarytrio, their creator. I just added stuff off of the gerbil, hamster thingy. now I have something else to say  
yay! I finally got up chapter two! happiness! ha ha! it took up eighteen pages on word. EIGHTEEN!!! that's a heck of a lota pages!! when I came back from church and clicked 'Load Into Editor' I actually got a message saying WOAH! this is getting long. if it gets any longer it will...blah blah blah. it was pretty funny. but that was on quizilla...**

**hope you like please review and look out for the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n yay! okay, so it's chapter three. finally. Next chapter will probably be longer, but I don't know when it will get out. but I hope you enjoy :) it isn't long like the last one, but whatever. enjoy!!!**

**

* * *

**

**Sunrises**  
Chapter Three--Setting Out

_---_

Seiko rolled over on her bed as the sun rose slowly up in the sky. She buried her face into her pillow, squeezing her eyes shut.

She hadn't slept too well. Something Hato had said a couple days ago was bothering her, and it aggravated her. Well, _what_ he said irritated her, but more importantly the fact that it bothered her so much and that she couldn't get it out of her head...**that** was what was annoying her most.

_'Well, if you think it's so gross, be happy that you aren't one of those girls I'm always thinking about'_

Seiko let out a shriek of annoyance, turned over so that she stared up at the ceiling, and threw her covers off of her.

Dull blue eyes flashing angrily at her reflection in the mirror, she asked herself, "Why have I been thinking about it nonstop?!" she screamed at herself through gritted teeth. She had thought that talking about the whole thing would help, so she had talked to her brother about it the day before.

It hadn't helped.

At all.

In fact, she suspected talking had made it worse. Every second she breathed seemed to be devoted to thinking about that one, simple, insignificant comment.

It was true. Not only had it been irritating her for days, but it had been nonstop. If she wasn't thinking about the exact words he had said to her, then she was thinking about possible reasons that he had said it, or even sometimes what he meant by it. She was always curious about why it affected her so much, though. Thinking about it ruined her concentration as she trained, and she was always distracted when dealing with people. It also caused her to respond coolly to everything Hato said to her--even when he addressed Sakai and herself collectively with the nickname he had given to them--"Twinjas". Usually this nickname brought a smile to Seiko's face even on her gloomiest days, but it no longer worked.

Suddenly, as Seiko stood there thinking about it as she absently stared at herself in the mirror, a "brilliant" idea came into Seiko's head, having to do with the whole issue and why it was there--because Seiko didn't take well to insult. She always had to get to the bottom of why the insult had been made; Seiko was unconsciously lying to herself saying that this situation was the same as all of the others. In fact it was **so completely** different that there were really no words to describe how terrible inaccurate she was. But it didn't matter because finally, a smile spread wide across her face. It had been days since one had made its way there, but there it was at long last.

Quickly grabbing a comb she brushed through the knots in her long golden hair that came with bed head; the smile stayed even through the slight pain.

As she forced the teeth of the comb to work through her unmanageable hair she wandered over to the window and stared out, pressing her forehead against the cold glass. Outside, the sun was rising; Seiko loved watching sunrises. It was so...relaxing. What was too bad was that she had missed the best part of the sunrise; and she really needed the sense of serenity it always gave her, too.

Turning back to the mirror, she quickly finished up combing her hair and ran downstairs for a quick breakfast before she had to leave, without being allowed the comfort of a shower, to meet Mutsuko-sensei with her other two teammates.

Sakai was already sitting at the table when the golden-haired girl came down. He was hunched over his food eating--and he was fully dressed with wet hair, skin, and--only slightly--clothes.

Seiko stopped where she stood and just glared at the back of his head. How unfair was it that he, a boy who wasn't even supposed to care if he was dirty or not, got to take a shower while she, a girl who was supposed to be overly-obsessive about her looks and hygiene, didn't get the chance.

"G'morning Seiko," Sakai greeted without ever having even turned his head. "I poured you some cereal but...it got soggy."

"How long have you been awake?" Seiko grumbled, pulling out a chair and dropping down into it. The bowl full of soggy cereal still sat there, and she stared blankly at it as if it would go away just because she was willing it to do so.

"Oh, a couple of hours." Sakai looked over at his sister, grinning. As he brushed his rusty colored bangs from his eyes, the taunting twinkling in his eyes became apparent to Seiko. Her twin obviously knew it displeased her that he was up before her and he got opportunities to do things she couldn't.

Grunting inaudibly, Seiko turned back to her soggy cereal and began playing with the spoon that sat in it.

Sakai watched her for a little bit, shook his head, scooted his chair back, and stood. "Let me take care of it," he said, taking the bowl away from his sister and dumping its contents in the garbage. He rinsed the cereal that refused to part from the bowl out in the sink and then set the white porcelain bowl back in front of his sister.

Before the girl could even move he grabbed the cereal box, poured Seiko some, and shoved the milk towards her.

"Arigato," the blonde muttered. She poured the creamy milk into her bowl and absently began to eat the near-flavorless rice cereal.

---

Hato rushed about his apartment noisily as he tried to prepare himself for the mission.

He had been packing his bag all morning, all though by looking at it you wouldnt be able to tell. It was as limp as it ever was.

All that time he had wasted packing absolutely nothing--in fact he was still working on it--and he hadn't had breakfast or even dressed himself yet.

And he knew that Mutsuko-sensei would be arriving soon to push him along. Hato wished that this would motivate him to rush himself, but it never worked. It had no effect on him at all, actually. He kept at his hurried pace that got him nowhere.

As Hato slurped down the remaining milk from his bowl of cereal, the long awaited pounding of the door came.

"Come in!" the blonde boy sang; he chucked his bowl and spoon and the sink and ran towards the bathroom to brush his teeth.

The front door to his apartment swung open and the brown-haired sensei stepped in. She smirked as she watched Hato. Lazily she took a step into the apartment and closed the door.

As usual she took care of putting away the milk and cereal as her subordinate finished getting ready.

This all happened to often it was nearly routine. Sometimes though there would be changes. Maybe Hato didn't have cereal for breakfast; perhaps he had already brushed his teeth and gotten dressed, but he still needed to pack his things. Hato was always changing the order of things so Mutsuko rarely knew what to expect. However, she helped in whatever way she could to help prepare the easy-going thirteen-year-old for the day's mission.

"You know, Hato," Mutsuko began as she closed the refrigerator door, "I really do wish you'd stop saving your hurried moments for at home. The twinjas and I would really appreciate it if you were on _time_ for once."

The boy snorted at his sensei's remark. "Like you're always on time, right?"

Hato rounded the corner as he spoke, hastily shoving his fisher-style hat onto his head before Mutsuko-sensei could catch sight of his mop of blonde hair.

"And of course I missed the hair," Sensei sighed. "Why is it that only Seiko gets to see it?" the young woman moped--jokingly, of course. It was quite against her nature to pout so.

"Because she steals it off my head, that's why," Hato growled bitterly, causing his sensei to laugh.

"Maybe I'll actually be around sometime when that happens. I don't understand why you always wear the hat; don't you think the girls would like you even more if they could see the hair?"

Hato smirked, slinging hid back over his shoulder, and said, "I don't need any more attention from the girls. If I did, they'd be killing each other."

"My aren't we modest," Mutsuko-sensei laughed; she opened the door for her pupil and waited for the boy to pass out into the hall before closing and locking it with the key Hato had given her.

"Can we stop by my apartment before we go meet the other two?" she inquired of Hato; the boy looked over his shoulder at the brown-haired sensei.

Shrugging, he said, "Sure, why not? I mean it's on the way, isn't it?"

Mutsuko-sensei smiled at the white-clad boy and after taking a few strides was at his side.

---

"...what do you think the mission will be?" Seiko asked a silent Sakai. It wasn't really an attempt at making conversation, but more of a way of trying to keep her mind from wandering back onto..._that_ topic.

"I don't know. All Mutsuko-sensei told us is that it's gonna be a good one. I mean, _she_ doesn't even know what it is."

"You prove a good point, nii-chan," Seiko said solemnly.

Sakai rolled his eyes at the serious expression on his over-the-top sister's face. The expression was way too out of place there. Thankfully though, it was soon replaced with the grin everyone knew and--most of the time--loved.

"Yes, I know I do," Sakai said thoughtfully after he was satisfied with his sister's return to normalcy.

They went the rest of the way in silence. Sakai thought of different things that the mission could be as he absently walked the familiar streets of the Hidden village.

"No way," Seiko breathed, coming to a halt.

Sakai's head jerked upward and he turned his attention to his twin. "What is it?"

"Look," the girl ordered she lifted her hand and pointed at two figures resting against a high garden wall.

Sakai stared in disbelief. How was it that Mutsuko-sensei and Hato had arrived before them?

"I blame you," Seiko said as she quickened her pace.

Sakai, easily keeping up with her, cocked an eyebrow. "And why would that be?"

"Well...um, you..."

"Ha! See, it's more your fault then mine!"

"You have no proof for that..." Seiko, sticking her nose in the air, said; and that was that. Even though both she and her brother knew that, if anyones fault, it was hers, neither was allowed to say anymore on the subject because Seiko had ended it.

Hato began walking towards the two siblings, smiling.

"Well if it isn't the Noriako siblings," he drawled. "'bout time you two showed up."

"How on **earth** did you manage to get here before us?" Sakai wondered.

Hato shrugged. "And we actually stopped at Mutusko's apartment on the way, too. Anyway, c'mon, let's get to that mission!"

Mutsuko-sensei happily led the way to the Hokage's large office building. Up the steep staircase the four trudged.

Hato, becoming tired of the annoyingly slow pace they were all walking, quickly sprinted up the remains of the stairs, leaving his comrades in the dust.

Sakai rolled his eyes. Hato never missed the opportunity to show off. However, he only used speed when it suited him.

"Show off," Seiko muttered. Her dull blue eyes never left the red stairs they were all climbing.

"Usually he only shows off when there's someone he wants to impress. Isn't that right, Sakai?" Mutsuko-sensei commented, smiling slyly at her subordinate with the rusty brown hair.

"What?"

"Oh never mind!" Mutsuko-sensei's mood seemed to have been ruined then, thanks to Sakai's spacey-ness.

---

"Konichiwa Hogake-sama," Mutsuko greeted. She and the Noriako siblings had finally made it to the top, where they found Hato chatting it up with the Hokage.

Hato and the Hokage both completely ignored the other people seated at the long table.

"Konichiwa Hokage-sama," Seiko and Sakai said in turn.

The old man drew the pipe out of his mouth and looked over at the three who had just entered.

"Konichiwa Mutsuko-san. How are you doing Seiko, Sakai?"

"We are good, and yourself?" Seiko replied for the two.

"I am doing well, thank you. Also, thank you for finally arriving. Hato has been driving me crazy."

The blonde-haired boy grinned at his teammates and sensei; Sakai once again found himself rolling his eyes.

"So I assume you're here to receive your mission, correct?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Mutsuko-sensei answered. She stepped forward towards the long table to receive the scroll that would show their assigned mission.

Hato stepped back to join the two Noriakos.

As the three were awaiting their sensei to come back to show them their mission, another four people entered the room.

All three ninja Genins looked over their shoulders to see who it was--Team Gai.

Hato still shivered every time he saw the matching green jump-suits that Rock Lee and Gai-sensei wore. Seiko and Sakai did as well, although their reaction was just a _bit_ more discreet.

"Konichiwa Tenten," Hato practically sang. The brunette smiled slightly at her fellow Genin and gave a short wave.

"Konichiwa TenTen," Seiko also greeted. Sakai didn't say a word, merely waved at the four people and looked forward again.

"How's it going Lee?" Seiko inquired, walking toward the bushy-browed teenager.

Hato stepped towards Tenten, but she didn't seem to notice him approaching her. Instead she stepped forward and looked at Sakai.

"What's up?" she wondered; her smile was very nice, Sakai noticed.

Gai looked at them all approvingly, muttering something about youth, and then stepped towards the table to receive his team's mission.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Tenten asked of the Noriako boy.

"Sakai smiled half-heartedly at the girl. "Nothing really. I was just wondering what our mission would be. If only _Mutsuko-sensei_ would **hurry up**!!"

"Oh get over it already!" Mutsuko moodily countered; Tenten laughed.

"So anyway, I haven't really seen any of you guys but Hato since we graduated. What have you all been up to?"

Hato stopped his one-sided conversation with Neji to grin and then listen in on the conversation going on between Tenten and his teammate. Seiko's head also lifted as she tried to listen in as she continued her own conversation with Lee.

It wasn't a particularly _interesting_ conversation, but what got the Team 15 members interested was the fact that it was Tenten talking to _Sakai_.

Back in the Academy days, it was a well known fact that Sakai had a thing for Tenten, although she thought of him as nothing more than a friend. Instead she adored Neji--quite like girls hung over Sasuke in the Academy that current year but to a lesser extent. Now the tables had turned, though. Sakai had no interest in any girl, as it seemed, including Tenten, and Tenten was...well, she was looking at Sakai differently then she had in the old days.

Sakai shrugged, hands shoved firmly in his pockets. "Same old, same old. We've done a few missions, but mostly Mutsuko-sensei has been training us. Finally we're getting a good mission."

Tenten nodded. "That's nice. We're getting a C-ranked mission today. It will be a piece of cake though, I'm sure. Right, guys?"

Tenten smirked at her teammates. Lee, excited, punched the air while the quiet Neji smirked.

"We've also been waiting for a good mission, but none have yet arrived."

"Maybe Hokage-sama could set aside a mission for you guys, too," Hato suggested. "Mutsuko-sensei told us that's what she had him do."

"I didn't 'have' him do anything, baka. Hokage-sama kindly offered to set one aside and I accepted. That is all. Now come along, my darling subordinates. We have to get going."

"But what's the mission?!" Hato whined, quickly following after the young woman. It was only after he was out the door that he called a good-bye to his old classmates and their sensei, along with the Hokage.

"Sayonara, Neji, Lee, Tenten," Sakai said, nodding at each in turn. The smile he flashed to the girl was very quick; he actually doubted the brunette noticed, but he didn't worry about it.

"Sayonara Sakai-chan!" Tenten practically chirped; the two males also said their good-byes, but Sakai was already out the door.

Seiko shrugged, waved, and followed after the others.

---

"Noriako Sakai, Noriako Seiko, and Omoi Hato are to be guided by Warai Mutsuko--_me_--on this B-ranked mission."

The short-haired young woman cleared her throat before continuing. She also widened her eyes to return them to their normal size. Reading the Hokage's scrawl was difficult and required Mutsuko-sensei to squint her brown eyes.

"Come _on_ Sensei!" Hato impatiently pushed.

The woman flashed a warning stare at the boy before once again clearing her throat and straightening the scroll.

"We are to travel to the Lightning Country to guard a high-power against ninjas from...the Cloud Village, actually. This person will be found at the Town of Kusubana. The name of this high-power is Fujitaka Onpu. With him will be is fourteen-year-old daughter.

"Supposedly we're only supposed to protect him while he's taking care of business in this village, but you know these people--they're fickle. We'll probably be they're after that as well," Mutsuko finished up.

"Wait...this Fujitaka guy...he's already in the Lightning Country?" Seiko, confused, asked.

"Hai."

"Well couldn't something happen to him while we're on our way?"

"I'm sure he's already got that all figured out, but whatever. Now we really must be going. If you have anymore questions, ask as we go."

"Got it!" the three subordinates agreed. Grabbing their bags, they all quickly set off for Konoha gates.

"No keep in mind," Mutsuko began. She stared over her shoulder at the three young teens, a grim expression looking foreign on her face. "This is a dangerous mission. There are ninjas involved--and no doubt, they are older than all of you. I want you to be careful. There might even be some ambushes along the way. _always_ be on your guard!"

"We know, we know!" Sakai said impatiently.

However all three of the young ones stared at the Konoha banks fearfully, desperately, as they walked backwards out of the village.

They all had the same thought on their minds--what if this is the last time I see Konoha?

Mutsuko noticed this and hurried them along. "I won't let any of you die--got it?" she said, dead serious.

Her three subordinates exchanged looks before nodding firmly. They werent going to let fear consume them--especially before the mission even officially began. No, they were going to brave and they were going to succeed.

They were headstrong, and when they got that way...there was no stopping them.

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**a/n did you enjoy? please leave a review. I want to know what people think**


	4. Chapter 4

**a/n okay, so it's been a while. SORRY!!! I haven't been in the mood-Naruto is more of a fall thing for me. actually every season but summer thing--but now I am in it, though I ca't guarantee it will last.**

**here's chapter four!**

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**Sunrises  
**Chapter Four--On the Road

_---_

  


On their fifth day on the road, even Hato was getting a bit cranky. He was tired, sore, dirty, and hadn't eaten properly in days. And it didn't help his mood to learn that there was nothing he could do to make Seiko forgive whatever he had done wrong--"I'll tell you when I'm ready," she had said two days ago, rather snottily.

"Your sister is probably the only girl I will never understand," Hato grumbled, causing Sakai to chuckle slightly.

"Yeah, she is a fun one to figure out. I've known her my whole life and I'm still wondering," Sakai replied in his usual quiet manner.

"Do you have any idea why she's mad at me?" Hato then asked in an undertone, casting cautious glances to make sure the blonde girl wasnt in sight; he imagined that she wouldn't be pleased if she found out he was trying to pry information from her brother.

"No, I don't," Sakai lied, and efficiently, too. Hato sighed and asked no more questions, and the two walked alongside one another for quite some time in silence, following the somewhat chatty girls a few feet ahead.

"Pick up the pace, boys!" Mutsuko-sensei called over her shoulder, grinning. "I want to get there by tomorrow at some point, and we've still got a little ways to go!"

Hato and Sakai ran forward, and when Hato fell into step with his fellow blonde, she 'humphed' and moved towards Sakai.

"Seiko!" Hato whined, moving in front of her and walking backwards so that he could watch her. He gave her his best puppy-eyed stare, but she seemed immune to it.

"Mutsuko sensei, how much longer are we going to walk? The sun is starting to set," the blonde female said, ignoring the fact that Hato's face kept reappearing before her own. She pointed right past him to the sun which was slowly leaving the orange sky.

Mutsuko, as indecisive as ever, shrugged. "We need to get moving. Those attacks took longer than I would have thought and delayed us quite a bit."

"How so? Those bandits were easy? And we've only come across problems with attacks twice!" Sakai pointed out, flicking his rust-colored bangs from his eyes.

"Maybe so, but Hato received quite a serious injury during one of those battles and we had to rest. Right, Hato?"

The blonde boy grimaced slightly as he nodded. He didn't like to think about two days ago; it was humiliating. Nonetheless he touched the bandaged spot under his ribs where he had been pierced with a kunai. It was still bleeding, but very slowly and only slightly.

Mutsuko-sensei watched him thoughtfully before saying, "We'll have to re-bandage that soon," and turning away.

Hato's face flushed. He wasnt used to it being _him_ that was constantly in trouble, thought it had turned out that way so far during the trip. And he could honestly say that he liked it better when it was either Seiko in danger or no one--as it **usually** was.

---

The sun was barely in the sky anymore, yet the four trudged along the path anyway. Sakai had suggested going into the forest and jumping along the trees, but Mutsuko-sensei had said that they had to stick to the path, otherwise she wouldn't know how to get to the village.

Seiko sighed, wishing that the day would go by faster. Every second seemed like an hour as they walked along the dirt road, their feet as heavy as lead.

"How are you guys all doing?" Mutsuko-sensei asked, brushing her light hair out of her brown eyes.

"Tired," Seiko grumbled, but it went unheard for at the same time, Sakai exclaimed:

"Ready to get to the village and fight!"

"Now that's the type of spirit that we need here!" Mutsuko-sensei said, smiling. "It's good to see _someone_ is up to performing this mission!"

Seiko frowned. "It's not that we aren't up to, it's just that we're _tired_."

"I think we all are, but Sakai just is prepared to keep moving, right?"

"Well, **no**, not really. I do need a rest too," Sakai answered a little uncomfortably.

"Just go along with it, Sakai!" Mutsuko-sensei hissed in his ear.

As Sakai battled with himself, wondering whether he should or not, Hato moved back onto trying to get Seiko to talk to him.

"You're wasting your efforts," she said gently, almost before he could get a single word out. "There seriously is _nothing_ you can do!"

"But, there's something you could do, right? Just push it out of your mind...forgive and forget whatever the offending crime was!"

"Hato, don't you get that I **want** to? I don't like being angry like this, and I _hate_ it when I'm confused. But I just...can't. And trust me, I'd very much like to be able to. It's really sad seeing you trying like that. I tell myself to forget--I've been telling myself since we first set out, but...I **can't**, don't you get it?" Seiko explained, close to tears.

Hato stopped dead in his tracks and stared, just stared at her. The way her eyes were glistening with tears, she almost looked like..._Cho_. Hato shook his head, ridding the thought. How could he think of her right then? And how could he compare Seiko to her? Yes, he liked Seiko, she was a great friend, but...they were two different people to Hato. One whom he was friends with, and the other who he couldn't stop thinking about in his sleep.

"And you just make me feel terrible when you try," Seiko continued," so please just :"

"O-okay," Hato stuttered, nodding unsurely. He picked up his step again and moved back over to Sakai, who was still arguing with Mutsuko-sensei about the whole mission-rest thing.

Seiko heaved a sigh and wiped her tears on her forehead protector.

_Wow. I didn't even realize I felt that way..._ she said to herself, amazed. _Who would have guessed._

She glanced over at Hato, who looked lost in thought, his dark gray eyes glazed over, and her heart gave a terrible pang. Instinctively, her hand shot up and gripped at her chest.

Sakai spotted her and immediately cut his conversation with the young sensei short. "Seiko? Seiko, what's wrong?" he asked, panicked. He pushed over to his sister, who kneeling close to the ground, holding her heart.

"It hurts, and I don't know why," she whispered. Her eyes flickered towards Hato, his words from days ago filled her head, and her heart gave another horrible pang.

"Seiko, what is it?" Sakai whispered.

"Nothing," Seiko choked.

"But you're--"

"I'm **fine**," Seiko assured him impatiently. "Now help me up and let's get a move on."

Sakai hesitantly did as he was told. As they continued onward, he wouldn't let his sister out of his sight, much to her annoyance.

_"Well, if you think it's so gross, be happy that _you_ aren't one of those girls I'm always thinking about."_

"Who knew it could hurt so much?" Seiko whispered, her fingers lightly clasping her chest again. "Just a silly little comment. It's not like I care who he flirts with anyway."

But something in the back of her mind told her that she did; she was just too stubborn to listen.

---

It was several hours later that they stopped to find a place to rest. Every muscle in Sakai's body was sore, and he had never felt like he needed to bathe more in his life.

"Let's have a quick bite to eat, I'll re-bandage Hato's wound, and then we'll sleep," Mutsuko sensei ordered, dropping her backpack in the middle of the clearing. "I'll keep watch."

"Okay," Sakai said. He too dropped his bag and started setting up his sleeping bag, watching Seiko out of the corner of his eye.

The blonde girl was moving towards their sensei, prepared to help out with the making of the fire, but Sakai couldn't allow it.

"Seiko!" he called; his twin looked over at him, eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Come here, please. I um...need your help."

"With what? Fluffing your sleeping bag?" Seiko asked incredulously, slowly making her way towards her brother.

"No," Sakai scowled. "Just come here."

"Fine!" Seiko sighed. She took the final few steps towards Sakai and sat down on the ground beside him.

"What?"

"You should rest."

"So should you."

"I'm talking about earlier...I think you should rest. We don't want it to happen again."

"It has **nothing** to do with being _tired_!"

"Then what was it?" Sakai inquired, eyebrows raised.

"Just a little pain. I think I must've gotten cut on something," Seiko lied.

"That made your insides hurt? Nice try, Seiko..."

"Hey Twinjas!" Hato interrupted. "Hurry up and get some grub before we eat it all!"

"Before _he_ eats it all," Mutsuko-sensei hastily corrected, causing the blonde boy to grin sheepishly.

"Seiko jumped to her feet and hurried over while Sakai took his time. He didn't usually worry about Seiko; she could fend for herself, no doubt about it, and she was emotionally strong, too. But that look on her face...it caused something to stir inside Sakai. He had never seen her look like it before, and he wondered if it had something to do with what she had said was bothering her days ago, on the porch swing.

"And Hato," he whispered to himself. He looked at the care-free boy and frowned. It wasn't his fault, Sakai knew, but he couldn't help putting some of the blame on Seiko's sudden pain on him. He didn't know what that comment did to Seiko; _Seiko_ wasn't even too sure about it either, obviously.

But still...

Sakai shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts. There was no use in getting all riled up and mad at Hato.

"Sakai? Don't you want this food?" Mutsuko-sensei asked, shoving the paper-towel at him. On it was a large sausage link, some, bread, and some cheese.

"Arigato, Sensei," Sakai said quietly, bowing his head as he accepted the food. Mutsuko smiled at the rusty-haired boy and then sat down to eat while he went and joined the other two who ate in an awkward silence.

"So, another uneventful day!" Hato chirped, trying to bring up conversation; Seiko and Sakai grunted and continued eating.

"Except fort hat whole collapse thing...Seiko, you really scared us all."

"Glad to know you care," Seiko grumbled, not even looking up.

"Do you know what happened?"

"Hato," Sakai began coldly, looking past his bangs at his comrade. "Why don't you just shut up for once?"

Stricken, Hato nodded numbly. "O-okay," he stuttered.

Sakai had never told him to shut up like that before...

As Hato ate in a shocked silence, Sakai continued eating as well, feeling only remotely sorry for having hurt Hato's feelings. He wouldn't have said anything if the pained look Seiko had worn earlier hadnt flashed in his memory.

"That was kind of mean," Seiko whispered, folding up her greasy paper towel.

Her expression showed up again and blinded Sakai's better judgment.

"He needs to learn when to close his trap," the Noriako boy replied quietly, getting to his feet. "I'm going to bed now. Thanks for the meal."

And he walked off to his sleeping bag to fall into an uneasy sleep.

---

Hato lay quite still in his sleeping bag later that night, listening as all the night bugs chirped around him. So both of the Twinjas were mad at him now? He didn't know what he did, but he wished he could fix it. No one ever got mad at him...no one except the boyfriends of the girls he hit on. He wasn't used to this...his two closest friends, mad for no apparent reason...

It was unsettling.

He sighed, turning over onto his side, unable to sleep. All around him he could hear the gentle--or not so gentle in some cases, like Sensei--snoring of his teammates.

"I need to sleep," he muttered to himself yet again, closing his eyes and trying to think of soothing thoughts that would make him sleep.

None came; he kept thinking about Seiko's confused anger at him and Sakai's cold words.

Then Hato heard something through the noise of the bugs and the snoring that made his body tense and his skin tingle. There was rustling in the leaves of a nearby tree. And he didn't think it was just some animal.

It rustled again, and Hato slowly turned, his eyes opened only a crack. In a tree to his right, he could the vague shadow of a crouching man. Looking around carefully, Hato saw similar shadows in other trees.

_What do I do?_ he screamed inside his head; immediately his eyes flickered towards the nearby figure of Mutsuko-sensei sitting on the bare ground, having fallen asleep while keeping watch. He had to wake her, but how would he do that without the people noticing?

There **was** no way, so he'd just have to risk getting hit.

Ever so slowly, he slipped out of his sleeping bag and crawled along the forest floor towards the twenty-four year old.

"Hato? What are you doing?" Sakai groggily asked, sitting up in his sleeping bag as Hato passed.

Hato pressed a finger to his lips and whispered, "Quiet", but it was too late. The figures in the trees noticed they were awake and two weapons were thrown--one narrowly missing Hato's head and the other grazing Sakai's shoulder.

"What was that?" Sakai whispered, looking around through narrowed eyes.

"We've got attackers, duh," Hato whispered in reply. "I need to wake Mutsuko-sensei."

"I'll do that. You keep a watch out. You can see them, right?"

Hato nodded.

"Yeah, I can't. Now keep watch and wake Seiko and I'll take care of Sensei."

"Roger that," Hato whispered, winking. He crawled towards the peacefully sleeping figure of Seiko and began shaking her as he kept his eyes on the figures hidden in the trees.

"Seiko," he whispered, shaking a little harder. "_Seiko_!"

"What is it?" she grumbled, staring at him through barely opened eyes.

"Wake up!" he whispered urgently.

"It isn't morning, I think I'll keep sleeping; thanks."

"Seiko, **please**! We have unwelcome visitors."

"You mean besides you," Seiko snapped, sitting upright.

Hato's mouth twitched into a severe frown at this. "Please, Seiko. I wouldn't say this if there weren't."

"I somehow doubt that," Seiko replied unkindly. "Now if you don't mind--"

But her words were cut short by a kunai soaring through the air and lodging itself in Hatos shoulder.

Seiko shrieked and Hato winced.

"Let me see that," Seiko whispered. She touched the handle and jiggled it; it wasnt in far, but there was a steady pouring of blood.

Hastily, Seiko pulled out the kunai and dragged Hato over to Mutsuko-sensei's bag, where she pulled out a wad of paper towels.

"Hold that to it," she instructed firmly, pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"O-okay," Hato stuttered, placing the wad to his wound.

"Come show yourselves!" Mutsuko demanded, jumping to her feet. She brandished a weapon before her, the moonlight glinting of its blade.

"You guys ready?" she whispered to her subordinates, glancing around at them. Seiko and Sakai were standing in offensive stances, kunai and shuriken hanging from their fingers.

Hato hurriedly pulled out a double-bladed kunai from his pouch and held it steadily before him.

"Show yourself!" Mutsuko ordered again, looking around the clearing.

"Sensei," Hato began slowly. "They are."

He pointed his weapon into the shadows, where about a dozen fully-grown men where slinking out of, coming towards them.

"Oh, yes, so they are," Mutsuko growled. She threw a shuriken in their direction, but they couldn't see if anything happened with it.

"Hm...look what we got here, fellas," the man in the front growled, laughing coldly. The other men following him laughed as well. "Three little children and a lady. This ought to be fun."

Hato's grip on his kunai tightened. He was not a _little child_.

"Old man, you have no idea who you're up against," Sakai said calmly. Even in the dark, Hato could see the smirk on his face.

"Well then why don't you tell us?" the leader retorted, getting ever closer to the four.

"Why don't you just find out?" Mutsuko spat. The next thing anyone knew, she was behind the leader, holding a kunai against his throat while she held anther in her mouth.

"Hato, Seiko, Sakai--**go**!" she ordered, jerking her head to the pack of men, though her message was a bit warbled due to the weapon she held between her teeth. "Give them all you've got!"

Hato stuck the paper towel under his shirt and then chased after the Noriako siblings to the bunch of armed men as Mutsuko-sensei took on the leader.

The sound of blades clashing and screams filled the air. Hato watched as the Twinjas summoned their hamsters and gerbils and began their attacks; Sakai and his gerbils spun at their enemies while Seiko, her two ghost selves, and all her hamsters and their ghost selves attacked _their_ enemies.

Hato took a deep breath, formed a few hand seals, and then screamed, "_Zetsumei songu no Tori_!"

Fifty or so kunai suddenly began flying around in all directions, squealing loudly like birds. They lodged themselves in enemies all over; Hato smiled satisfactorily and took this chance to see how his teammates were doing.

Both Seiko and Sakai had been doing well, but while Sakai was being constantly vigilant, Seiko, like Hato was smiling and not paying attention.

One of those she had attacked seemed to notice this, for he struggled to his feet and moved towards her, a sharp knife in hand.

Hato's eyes widened. He suddenly sprinted forward and dove into the man's side, knocking him over. The knife fell from his hands and was thrown some ten feet away.

"Don't you dare do that," Hato hissed, holding the tip of a kunai to the man's forehead. "Have you no honor? Have you no courage? It is cowardly to come up from behind."

"Don't you go preaching to me, kid," the man Hato sat on top of growled. He swatted at Hato, sending the kunai flying, just like the knife.

"Now get off me, kid!"

Hato wielded another double-bladed kunai, but before he could hold it at the man's throat, Seiko ran up and gave the man a good hard kick in the head.

"I thought I told you to stay down!" she snapped, dull blue eyes flashing angrily. She glanced at Hato and smiled slightly.

"Put the kunai away, Hato. This guy is mine."

Hato obliged, if not hesitantly. Slowly, he stood up and walked over to Sakai, who was watching as Mutsuko and the leader fought their battle. Both were panting, but it was obvious who was winning--Mutsuko.

How could she not be? She was a strong Jounin ninja of Konoha and had been since she was eighteen. Hato had rarely seen her fight, but from what he had seen, she was good.

He glanced back over at Seiko and found that she was pummeling the man with her fists. He chortled and looked over at Sakai, who was staring at him, frowning slightly.

"Get away you two--this could hurt!" she screamed, glancing at them as she swung her leg at the man.

Hato and Sakai did as they were told, but continued to watch. Mutsuko ran in circles around the bald man, forming hand seals as she did so. She stopped behind him and shouted, "_Kamisori ha no Konoha!_"

It was the same move Hato had observed the Academy student, Seiichi, perform. A sea of razor sharp leaves came flying from all angles with kunai and shuriken mixed in with it. Mutsuko jumped out of the way as they flew at the man.

The leader of the bandits grunted and collapsed to his knees, leaves, kunai, and shuriken sticking out of various parts of his body.

"I think it best we leave now," Mutsuko whispered, tucking a strand of light brown hair behind her ear. "Go pack your things.

---

Seiko slipped her arms through her backpack straps, staring at Hato. He glanced over at her and flashed a tiny smile.

Her heart gave a small pang, but a different kind than before. Slowly, she moved towards Hato, who looked startled.

"Thanks for earlier," she said softly, struggling with her words. "That was really nice of you."

"Thanks, but it was only right,."

"Still, some people might not have done the same in your position."

Hato shrugged. "I guess I'm better than some people, hm?" he teased, poking out his tongue.

"Don't push it, Hato," Seiko giggled, giving him a slight shrug. He grimaced, touching his newly bandaged shoulder.

"Right. Sorry."

"Not a problem. And you're welcome."

The blonde male glanced over at their Sensei, who was ushering for them to hurry along. He rolled his eyes and walking lazily towards her.

"Wait! Hato!" Seiko called.

Hato looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised.

"I...I think I'm ready."

Hato stood, confused, for a moment and then broke into his usual grin.

Seiko smiled breathlessly and then ran to catch up with him.

"So can I start acting like an idiot in front of you without you making huffy noises now?" he whispered.

Seiko laughed. "Trust me, Hato. That will _never_ happen."

* * *

**a/n I don't know the proper Japanese way of writing, so I don't know if what Hato and Mutsuko said was correct, but yeah. I hope you enjoyed! sorry it's been so long since I last updated. don't punsih me by not reviewing though, please! I love to know what my readers think :)**


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